


Jack and Eric (and the Great Comet)

by butterfly_wings



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Great Comet AU, M/M, but as they are mentioned i felt it would be fair to tag them in case people don't like them, the main ship is zimbits, the other two ships are in the past, this is extremely self-indulgent, this is really just the pierre and natasha song re-written for zimbits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23064712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterfly_wings/pseuds/butterfly_wings
Summary: After his (apparently) disastrous relationship with one charming Kent Parson, Eric is alone and sad until dear bewildered Jack Zimmermann comes to call.
Relationships: Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Alexei "Tater" Mashkov, Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Jack Zimmermann, Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Kent "Parse" Parson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Jack and Eric (and the Great Comet)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, this is a great comet au, although i do think it would be better to say it's jack and bitty being pierre and natasha. for context, bitty was engaged (to tater) but he had an affair (with kent), and jack has now come to visit (and console) bitty. there's more notes at the end about the roles everyone plays in the au if you're curious. 
> 
> oh, and i'm hand-waving the whole homophobia thing, just pretend that gay marriages were fine in 1812 moscow.

Eric stares out the window, a few stray tears still rolling down his cheeks. He feels raw, numb, exposed in a way he hasn’t felt in years. He’s ruined. Shitty isn’t pleased—drinking arsenic was, perhaps, one of Eric’s more foolish ideas—and Adam is still hurt from the cruelties Eric had thrown at him. As he should be, Eric thinks, reaching out to touch the glass. The cold glass grounds him, reminds him that he is still here.

Kent has left for St. Petersburg, but that means nothing when Eric recalls how Shitty had yelled about Kent being married. He still can’t fully comprehend it. Kent, married. Married, and yet he had told Eric that he would marry him. And on top of everything, Alexei doesn’t want him back, but if Eric’s being honest, that’s to be expected. So now, he has nothing to do, nowhere to go. The truth stares bleakly back at him: he is ruined, his prospects destroyed. There is no future for him.

He doubts that he is being dramatic this time. How can there be anything for him?

The door creaks open. “Mr. Bittle,” a servant says, and Eric turns. “Jack Zimmermann is here to call on you.”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Eric replies. He wipes his eyes and makes his way into the drawing room.

Jack Zimmermann cuts a striking figure in his ensemble of black. He looks up at Eric when he walks in.

He looks…tired. Or, perhaps, it’s concern that fills his face.

“Jack Zimmermann,” Eric greets him. “How are you?”

Jack’s eyes are wide and blue as he blinks slowly before replying. “I…the real question is, how are you?”

“Getting along,” Eric replies truthfully. He knows why Jack is here. Might as well get it over with. “You are friends with Prince Alexei, yes?”

“Yes.” Jack is still calm and quiet. He is a man of little words, Eric realizes.

Eric continues with, “He is in town right now. When I was…with Alexei, he told me that I could rely on you as a friend. I have a favor, now, to ask of you.”

Jack nods his head, as if to say, go on.

Eric takes a deep breath. It’s now or never. “If…if you could you please ask him to forgive me?”

Jack’s eyes, those wide blue eyes of his, fill with sorrow. “I can ask him, but he has given me your letters.” He reaches into his jacket. “I have them—”

“No, no, I know he has ended our engagement,” Eric says, the words flowing out of him in a rush. “But still I’m tormented by the wrong I’ve done him. I betrayed his trust and our engagement, and I just want him to know how truly, truly sorry I am to him. I know that we cannot go back to what we had but what I did was not right and I need him to know that I regret all of it.”

“I will tell him,” Jack replies. He pauses, twists his hands. “But I must know. Did—did you love that bad man?”

He knows exactly who Jack is talking about, and he feels a surge of anger and protectiveness rush through him.

“Don’t call him bad,” Eric hisses, then he sighs as he recalls the way Shitty had exclaimed "He is married!". The fight bleeds out him and Eric runs his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I don’t know at all.”

Jack won’t stop looking at him, his eyes soft and concerned, and Eric shifts on his feet.

“I can’t say that I never loved him,” he manages, feeling fresh tears spring into his eyes.

Jack takes this answer with stride, nodding his head thoughtfully. “We won’t speak of it anymore.”

Eric presses his palms to his eyes. All he seems to do these days is cry. He forces himself to breathe, focusing on the shakiness in his chest as he inhales and exhales.

He straightens his spine. “Thank you,” he manages to say, pleased that his voice doesn’t waver.

Jack’s eyes soften, and he takes a hesitant step towards Eric. “If you ever need anything,” he begins, his voice slow and hesitant, but still soft and comforting. “Consider me your friend, and ask for my help once—” He has to take in a breath, and he twists the cuffs of his sleeves. A nervous habit, perhaps. But there is nothing but genuine care in his eyes. “Once your mind is clear.”

Eric freezes at the tenderness in his voice. It’s too much. “Don’t speak to me like that! I am not worth it—”

“Stop,” Jack interrupts. “Stop, stop. You have your life before you.”

“I have nothing,” Eric says, incredulous. “All is over for me.”

“All over? No,” Jack replies, crossing the room to stop in front of Eric. There is such warmth on his face that Eric nearly falls over from the sheer kindness. He reaches out and takes Eric’s hands, then takes a deep breath.

“If I were not myself, but the brightest, handsomest, best man on earth, and if I were free, I would get down on my knees this minute and ask you for your hand and for your love.” Jack looks down at their entwined fingers, and his cheeks turn pink.

Eric can hardly believe his ears. Once more, his eyes burn with the familiar sting of tears. But unlike before, these tears are not from heartache. Instead, there is nothing but gratitude in his heart. Even after all this, the fact that Jack would see something worth loving in him is overwhelming in its own right. He isn’t sure that he knows how to thank him.

Still, he whispers, “Thank you.” Unbidden, his lips curl into a smile; the beginnings of happiness blooming in him for the first time in days. He cannot help himself; he pulls his hands free and throws his arms around Jack.

Jack doesn’t reply, merely wraps his arms around Eric and pats his back. Eric closes his eyes, relishing in Jack’s warmth.

Jack’s touch is unlike Alexei’s, loud and cheerful and too sudden at times, and also unlike Kent’s, charm and silk and often too hungry. No, Jack is nothing but care and gentle and soft. This—safe in Jack’s arms—is a place where Eric doesn’t mind being.

Third time’s the charm. Eric wants to laugh. Adam would probably tell him that he falls too quickly; remind him that Kent had been kind, that Alexei had earnest, that both men had paid attention to him and look at how those had turned out.

But Adam isn’t here.

Eric steps out of Jack’s embrace.

“I better go,” he says softly, but he cannot erase the smile on his face. Jack smiles back.

“Of course,” he replies, and his voice is all tenderness and soft smiles. “I wish you a fast recovery, Eric.”

Eric lets his eyes linger on Jack for one last moment, before he turns around and leaves the drawing room. His heart feels full and his soul feels light in a way he has never felt before. Perhaps Jack truly is different.

After all, he can feel the hope blossoming in his chest for the first time.

He stops and looks at the window, gazing down at the road before the house. Outside, Jack walks up to his sleigh, his fur coat thrown over his shoulders. He pauses to look at the house, before turning away. Eric watches as Jack climbs into his sleigh and begins the ride back to his own home. Jack’s silhouette grows smaller and smaller, until he turns the corner and Eric can no longer see him.

The smile on his face will not leave.

And then, all of a sudden, the comet—that beautiful, great comet that had been the talk of society—brushes across the sky, and Eric’s gaze is drawn up to the brilliant light that bursts through the darkness.

Perhaps Alexei and Kent are also watching the comet’s arc, wondering what it brings, afraid that it really will bring the end of the world as everyone says. But they are no longer important. They are in the past, in Eric’s past.

For him, this comet signals the new beginning that he has. Not all is lost; he still has hope for the future.

He cannot help it, that he is smiling. He thinks of Jack, imagines him halting his sleigh to look up at the shining star.

“To new beginnings,” Eric whispers to himself, and touches the cold glass.

To new beginnings, the comet seems to say back, as it continues its journey across the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> this was extremely self-indulgent but i hope some of you enjoyed it!! 
> 
> soooo quick rundown of which character corresponds to who (if you are familiar with the musical; if not, well, there's notes about each character!) 
> 
> Natasha (young and sweet, engaged to Prince Andrey)-Bitty  
> Pierre (rich, unhappily married to Helene)-Jack  
> Anatole (a hot scoundrel, the brother in law to Pierre)-Kent  
> Prince Andrey (engaged to Natasha, during the musical he is at war)-Tater  
> Marya D (Natasha' s strict godmother; friends with pierre)-Shitty (because he's good friends with Jack; i really struggled with picking someone for this role haha)  
> Sonya (Natasha's cousin and closest friend)-Holster  
> Helene (Anatole's sister, not mentioned in this fic but i did cast her)-Camilla Collins (nothing against her, i just felt that given her status as one of Jack's exes, she would work in Helene's role) 
> 
> honestly, i don't know if i will expand this au to encompass the whole musical. but feel free to leave ideas in the comments below! or just any reaction! all comments and kudos are appreciated!! 
> 
> Thanks for reading this!!


End file.
